INSIDE THE GURU'S GATE - Anpere

large number of sites and buildings both inside and outside the state of Punjab. Each
of these gurdwaras has a meaningful tale to unfold and often preserve relics, such as
clothes, shoes, weapons, letters, that have belonged to the Gurus or their family
members, to substantiate historicity and confirm spatial sanctity.
In consideration of which history these places commemorate, the category of
itihasik gurdwaras can be subdivided into a least three different types. The first, and
definitely the most important, are sites that in one way or another testify a direct
connection with the everyday life and peculiar events in the lives of the historical
Sikh Gurus. Acknowledged places at which the Gurus were born, grew up, resided,
meditated, got married, fought battles, worked miracles, met and debated with royalties,
yogis, pandits and other contemporaries, died and were cremated, are identified
locations to make up the sacred geography of the Sikhs. These historical sites evoke
stories transmitted by oral and textual narrative traditions and often bear references
to the corporeal and transcendental nature of the Gurus. 319 Blessed and sanctified by
the Gurus’ presences and deeds, they make destinations of pilgrimages and accommodate
natural and architectural monuments ‒ trees, wells, hot springs, ponds, gardens
and the like ‒ that are objects for veneration. A significant number of the historical
gurdwaras are believed to reciprocate rituals acts performed by devotees, such as
prayers, gurbani recitations, donations, and bathing, with spiritual merits and relief
from various kinds of bodily afflictions. The two main gurdwaras in Varanasi at Gurubagh
and Nichibagh claim this legitimacy and accommodate sacred spaces believed
to be “seats” on which Nanak and Tegh Bahadur meditated and worked wonders.
The second type of itihasik gurdwaras is the building founded in reminiscence
of virtuous Sikh disciples, who met or lived close with the human Gurus and were
given authority to perform certain honorable deeds. 320 In Varanasi the combined
gurdwara and Sanskrit school of Shri Chetan Math in charge of the Nirmala panth
stands in memory of Bhai Gurdas’ visit to the city. Equally significant are places honoring
the self-sacrificing martyrs who spilled their blood for the righteous cause of
upholding justice and protecting religion. There is no sanctuary of this kind located in
the district of Varanasi, but all the more are dotted about in the sacred geography of
the Punjab. 321
Another and third type are historical gurdwaras that work like relic-shrines,
built for the purpose of preserving and venerating objects that have been blessed or
physically touched by the Gurus. These objects can be handwritten manuscripts or
319
Sis Ganj Gurdwara in Delhi, for instance, venerates the spot on which Tegh Bahadur’s head fell
down when the Moguls decapitated him, whereas the site on mountain Hemkunt Sahib, is believed
to be the place at which Gobind Singh meditated (tapashya) before God ordained him to
take a human birth and enter the world.
320
Many of the Sikh scribes and officiators in the early community have a shrine in their name,
like Gurdwara Tap Asthan Baba Buddha Ji and Gurdwara Samadhan at Ramdas (Amritsar) which are
dedicated to Baba Buddha.
321
For instance, Baba Deep Singh Ji Shaheed Gurdwara at Amritsar commemorates Baba Deep
Singh’s martyrdom during the war against the Afghani invaders in the eighteenth century.
155
Published on www.anpere.net in May 2008